Imperial College of Science and Technology

University of London

A list of the second series of the papers and correspondence of

Dennis Gabor FRS

1900-1979

Imperial College Archives 1998

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Dennis Gabor was born in Hungary on 5th June 1900. In 1918 he attended the Technical University, Budapest to study a four year course in Mechanical Engineering, he followed this with a course from 1921-24 in Electrical Engineering at the Technische Hochschule, Berlin. He was awarded the Diplom-Arbeit in 1924. In 1927 he was awarded his doctorate and was then employed at Siemens and Halske, Siemenstadt.

In 1934 Gabor travelled to England where he became employed by the British Thomson Houston Company (BTH) in Rugby, he was married in 1936 to Majorie Butler. Gabor became a permanent resident and in 1938 persuaded his brother Andre Gabor to become one too, because of the threat of war in Europe. Dennis Gabor registered as an Alien with a special qualification in 1939 due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Gabor was appointed Reader in Electron Physics at hnperial College in 1948. His appointment to the personal Chair of Applied Electron Physics at hnperial was made in 1958. He retired from this Chair in 1967 and was then appointed Research Fellow and Professor Emeritus. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1956 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in December 1971. He died on 9th February 1979.

These papers are from the second series of Gabor papers, which, over a five year period were transferred from his former office in the hnperial College Electrical Engineering Department to the Electrical Engineering Library and finally to the College Archives. This second series of papers consists of seven boxes of various material. The list which follows covers the majority of the contents of the first box. It includes mainly work related correspondence with only the occasional piece of personal correspondence. All of Gabor's papers are held at the hnperial College Archives. This list was compiled bearing in mind the fact that research is about to commence on a Dennis Gabor biography.

I have listed these papers in alphabetical order as unfortunately the original order has long since been destroyed. After discussion with the Archivist it was clear that an alphabetical arrangement suited the users as it is more common for people to request material by name rather than by date. This arrangement is used in lists of other papers held in the Archives.

The first series of Gabor's papers was listed in 1986 and fills 40 boxes, it is hoped in time that the two series can be cross referenced and fully indexed.

Many of Gabor's notes are typewritten, as is the great majority of his outgoing correspondence. All material is in English unless otherwise stated. The use of [ ] denotes a query over the information given.

A

1960

1960-61

1945

1960

1959

1954-59

ACZEL,G From DG: picture restoration

ADORIAN,P (Television House) Correspondence: television compression, television bandwidth reduction, a visit and general views on inventions 7 letters

ADRIAN,ED From Adrian with his article The Electric Reactions of the cochlea and auditory nerve (1943) 1 letter, 1 item

ALLEN,JE (Comitato Nazionale Richerche Nucleari Roma) Letter and reply: plasma sheath

AMBROSE,EJ (Royal Cancer Hospital, London) To DG: DGs report on interference microscope 1 letter

ANDRADE, E N DA C 5 articles to DG 6/10159, with note The flow of polycrystalline metals under simple shear 11 The viscosity of liquids The history of the vacuum pump The early history of the permanent magnet Short note from John [no surname] thanking DG for loan of Professor Andrade's papers 2 letters, 5 items

1959

B

1955-56

1974-77

1958-59

1962

1971

ARGYRIS,JH To DG: thanking DG for his interest in Keiser Aircraft and Mr. Clay Bedford in particular, attached is a letter for DG from Bedford: flat tube 2 letters

BARON & WARREN (Chartered Patent Agents, London) British Patent Applns: Nos: 15053/53,28367/53,28368/53 5 letters,1 compliment slip

BARTELL,LS (Department of Chemistry, The University of Michigan, USA) Electron - Wave holography 15 letters

BISACRE,GH (Blackie & Son Ltd, Publishers) Becker - Theorie der Electrizitat Band IT 2 letters

BLUM,H (Office of Aerospace Research, USA) Blum's report on An Associative Machine for dealing with the visual field and some of its biological implications 2 letters, 1 item

BOHME,G 2 letters in German, one from DG

I

1953

1966

C

1959-60

1959

1958

BORN, M From DG: asking for help with a patent search he is undertaking for an American firm: welded contacts in germanium rectifiers/detectors Born's Reply 2 letters

BRIEN,A From DG: Brien's article in the New Statesman -A Word of Four Letters (work) 1 letter, 1 item

CHICK,DR (A.E.1. Research Laboratory, Berks.) DG visiting Chick, Chick receiving his D.Sc. and Chick sending Read to DG (a collaborator for DG) 7 letters

CLIFFORD, G D (The British Institution of Radio Engineers) To DG: Clifford thanking DG for giving a lecture at the Institution 1 letter

COCKCROFT, J D (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority) Discussions at the Royal Society 2 letters

1959

1958

1948

1944

D

1960

COSSLETT, V E (Department of Physics, University of Cambridge) DGs electron interference microscope project 2 letters

COWAN,J From DG: discussing the possibility of employing Cowan 1 letter

CSEPELY,J A From Csepely: his US patent: 2,014,081 - Wave Transmission System also discussion of some of his work: Very Narrow Band AFMfor Amateur Phone Transmitters (1947); Narrow­Band Carrier Teleplay (1940); Wave Transmission System (1935); An Analysis of a New Wave Transmission System ; n.d. Theory of Operation of the Condex System of AFM Modulation as applied to amateur phone transmitters 7 items

CUNYNGHAME, Sir David (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, London Films Ltd) From DG: telling him about his Stereoscopic Film System 1 letter

DAVIES,H (Queen Mary College, London) From DG: appraisal of the work ofR E Burgess 1 letter

1959

1960

E

1953

1960

F

1958

DRACOTT,ED (Royal Naval Scientific Service) From Dracott: thanking DG for sending a copy of a lecture 1 letter

DUNSMUIR,R (Associated Electrical Industries (Rugby) Ltd) Lasers 3 letters

ECCLES, WH From DG: asking him a question about germanium rectifiers 1 letter

ELLESWORTH, G Correspondence between DG, The Royal Society and Ellesworth in Adelaide, Australia concerning Ellesworth's readership in Australia, The Royal Society and Nuffield Foundation Commonwealth Bursaries Scheme, Ellesworth's CV and a travel grant for study in the USA 8 items

FARAGO,P Focusing properties of a certain inhomogeneous 'crossed' field by DG 1 report

1957

1959

G

1947

1973

FEATHER,N (Edinburgh University) To DG: informing him that he should approach Dacos about measuring the departures from rectilinearity DG replies to Dacos in French 3 letters

FRAULO,JP From DG: thanking Dr. Fraulo for all he had done for his mother when she was ill 1 letter

GALAMBOS (School of Medicine, Emory University, USA) From DG: one about his interest in acoustical matters the other about future experiments with article attached: Reflections on the subject of interaction of auditory nerve fibres Also an article by Galambos: Flight in the Dark: A Study of Bats (1943) 2 letters, 2 items

GAL-OR,B (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) To DG: about his book and DG replies (2 copies), also a foreword by DG for Gal­Or's paper - Modern Developments in Thermodynamics 3 letters, 1 item

1960

1958

1948

1953

H

1959-60

1959

GOMBRICH, E H J (The Warburg Institute, London) Discussions on a study group on symbolism for postgraduates and Gombrich's admiration for DGs Inaugural lecture 3 letters

GRIVET, P From Grivet in French 1 letter

GUNANELLA,G From L J Davies to Guanella; letter to DG from Guanella about his publication: New possibilities in Speech Transmission Copy of Guanella's patent for the Speech Transmission System Article by Guanella from The Brown Boveri Review, Methods for the Automatic Scrambling of Speech (1941) 2 letters, 2 items

GUNTHERSCHULTZE,G From DG in German 1 letter

HALDANE, J B S (Indian Statistical Institution, Calcutta) The future of the human race 4 letters

HAMPTON,BF The publication of one of Hampton's articles, also an article by DG and Hampton, A Wilson Cloud Chamber with Time-Marking of Particle Tracks (1957)

1953

1959-60

1960

1963-64

1965

3 letters HILSCH,R From DG in German 1 letter

HODGKINSON, J F N Discussing Dr. D K C Mac Donald as suitable candidate for the Granada Chair in Communication at the University of North Staffordshire, includes a description of the post 2 letters, 1 item

HORNER,PWM Carpeting the hall and stairs of DG's house (two copies ofDG's reply) 3 letters

HOWARD,RL (Vectron Electro-Physics Ltd.) Discussions between Howard and DG: DG's Adlisting attachment for a chemical analyser; discussions of mechanical equipment; copy of a letter from Salgo (General Electrodynamics Corp. Texas) to Howard which is mentioned by DG in one of his letters to Howard ; also an Inter Office Memo to Salgo from a Bob Maupin: Preliminary Recording Head Specification 6 letters and a compliment slip

HUXLEY, Sir Julian To DG: with article by Huxley from Playboy - The Age of Over breed 1 letter, 1 item

I

1960

1956

J

1960

1959-60

1959

1960

IGNOTUS,P (Hungarian Writers Abroad) All correspondence in Hungarian except one letter from DG discussing having lunch, 8 letters

INGLESTAM, E (Institute of Optical Research, Sweden) From DG: discussing publication of research, article by Inglestam, Different Forms of Optical Information and some Interrelations between them 1 letter, 1 item

JACKS ON, W (A.E.!. (Manchester) Ltd.) From DG: Ion Beam Source (Thermonuclear Project) 2 letters

JAEGAR,J-F Discussions on Jaegar's future M.8c. and PhD including a summary of his practical results 5 items

JONES,DS Discussion of a senior post in Communication Theory at the University College of North Staffordshire 2 letters

JONES,H From DG asking for advice on a peculiar gas discharge phenomenon

1959

1973

1953

K

1960

1959

1953

1 letter

JOSEPHS,HJ (Post Office Research Station) The case of Heaviside v. Preece 5 letters

JUNGK,R From DG in German 1 letter

JUSTI, E From DG in German 1 letter

KATZ,B (Biophysics, University College London) Discussions on the candidature of Dr. A.M .. Uttley for a Fellowship 5 letters

KATZ,L (Epsylon Research & Development Co. Ltd.) From DG: Katz's inquiries about Alphenol and the evaporation of perm alloy 1 letter

KINMAN,TH (British Thomson-Houston Co.) FromDG: The doped germanium rectifier 1 letter

1959

1973

L

1986 (DG deceased 1979)

1951

M

1959

KNOTT,G Knott's work on the general theory of relatively and what DG thinks of it 3 letters

KURTZ,RL (Marshall Space Flight Centre, Alabama, USA) 3-D Holographic movie camera and article from The Huntsbille Times Laureate Hails 3-D Camera System (28/1/73) - a newspaper cutting 2 items

LASZLO,M From Laszlo [in Yugoslavian] 1 letter

LOOMIS, WF (The Rockefeller Foundation) Present Interest in Mechanical Translation; a list of men working in the field; a list of men actively interested in the field 2 letters, 2 items

MACDONALD, D KC Discussions about the Granada Chair of Communication; an outline Memorandum by MacDonald 2 letters, 1 item

1953

1953

1960

1983 (DG deceased 1979)

1947

1960

N

1963

MALSCH,J (Telefunken) 3 letters in Gennan, 2 fram DG

MEISSNER,A From DG in Gennan 1 letter

MELTZER,B Meltzer's official fellowship in Engineering Science 9 letters, job description

MENDES, S M G F From Mendes: asking Imperial College about ordering a book written by DG 1 letter

MOIR,J From Moir: returning papers by Galambos 1 letter

MYERSON,FT Ordering equipment/parts from, Messrs. F.T. Myerson Ltd. and having jobs done 3 letters

NAGY,F (Vectron Electra-Physics Ltd.) Bimorph Bender Crystals 2 letters

1953

1959-60

1947

P

1957

1980 (DG deceased 1979)

1960

NESPER,E From Nesper in German DG's reply in German 2 letters

NEVILLE,R (Epsylon Industries Ltd.) Conveyor belt scheme 3 letters

NILSON,P (The British Broadcasting Corporation) From Nilson: a lecture which DG had gIven 1 letter

PARSONS,D (National Research Development Corporation) 3-D Projection 2 letters

PERTILE,F From Pertile: requesting information (a photocopy) 1 letter

PHIPPS,IM (The Tilley Lamp Company Ltd.) Printed Circuits 3 letters

1960

1959-60

1953

R

1960

1953

POLANYI,M Polanyi's book -Personal Knowledge; DG thanks Polanyi for bringing Alexander Wittenberg to his notice; discussions about Polanyi's paper; Towards a Theory of Conspicuous Production; copy of the paper 6 items

PORTER,A (University of Saskatchewan, Canada) Discussions on DG's paper on the multiplier; and Porter's plans for a colossal programme at his university; DG tells Porter about the various standards he has and then about the Athlone Fellows, Nilson and Barber 5 letters

PUNGS, L Mention of crystal detectors and welding between metal wire and crystal, in German (1 with an English translation) 4 letters, 1 item

ROWE,EG (Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd. Kent) Requests for parts and discussions of Rowe's new job with Brimar 7 letters

RUKOP,H (Telefunken) From DG in German 1 letter

1953

S

1953

1985 (DG deceased 1979)

1958-59

1964

1960

RYDE, W (The General Electric Company Ltd.) From DG: doped germanium rectifier 1 letter

SALOW From DG in German 1 letter

SENSINI,R From Sensini: request for an autograph 1 postcard

SHARP,FW (The British Institution of Radio Engineers) From Sharp: asking DG to give a lecture before the institution; then discussions on what the lecture should be; DG suggests, Elements of Communication Theory Further discussions on what the lecture should be called and when it will happen 10 letters

SNOW,CP From Snow: DG's writing on: Future Possibilities of Science (a photocopy) 1 letter

STACEY,N AH (The General Electric Company Ltd.) Implications of the Commercial Revolution (Stacey) G.E. C. Export Guide (Stacey 2 letters, 2 items

1958

1960

T

1960

1960

1960

STANWORTH, J E (The British Thomson-Houston, Co. Ltd.) From Stanworth: with an article from The New York Herald Tribune Ceramic Pills Generate Electricity When Heated 1 letter, 1 item

STUBBS, J (Steatite & Porcelain Product Ltd.) From DG: to confirm that he had received Faradox H from Stubbs and asking for some advice, includes engineering drawing of -Faradox H cylinder and parts of Ion Gun Project 1 letter, 1 item

TAHAIS,J From Tahais in Hungarian 1 letter

TAYLOR, G RATTRAY 20 minute documentary film Taylor is making - presenting some of the achievements of British chemical research 4 letters

THOMSON,G Discussions over DG's paper­Communication Theory and Physics 4 letters

1963

v

1960

W

1953

1960

1959

TOULMIN,S (The Nuffield Foundation) Papers by Toulmin -Foundations of Scientific Policy; The Academic Foundations of Science Policy; List of recent books and papers on foundations of Scientific Policy; information about a meeting on the above; general discussions between DG and Toulmin 8 letters

VERMES,P (Department of Mathematics, Birkbeck College, London) To DG in Hungarian 1 letter

WAGNER,KW In German, 2 from DG 3 letters

WALKER (Walker (Enfield) Ltd. Engineers) From DG: Walker tackling urgent jobs; a drawing of - Welded Steel Frames 1 letter, 1 item

WARE,AA (Associated Electrical Industries Ltd.) From Ware: DG's paper-

1956

1960

1958-59

1984 (DG deceased 1979)

1958

Collective phenomena and also hybrid oscillations 1 letter

WEAVER, W (The Rockefeller Foundation) From Weaver: thanking DG for sending copies of his papers and looks forward to reading them 1 letter

WEAVER,WRG Between DG, Weaver and Julien Loeb: sending Loeb' s son to England; one letter from Mrs. Joy Weaver to Mrs. Majorie Gabor 5 letters

WELLS,RW Various papers by Wells -A Microsecond Detector for 9 to 14 Micron Radiation; A Polarisation Modulated Communication system for use in the near infra-red; A New Approach to Photo-Conductor Multiple Switching; (all with figures and drawings) DG's responses; copy of a letter from a Dr. Babits to Wells, which Wells sent to DG 7 items

WIGNER,EP (Princeton University, USA) From Wigner: asking DG to write to Kremlin about disappearance of Andrei Sakharov 1 letter

WERNIKOFF, RE From DG: comments on Wemikoffs paper -A Theory of Signals

1960

1956

1960

1965

1 letter

WILBY, WPL From DG: questions about the analogue multiplier low frequency response previously talked about by R S Mackay at the 4th Symposium on Information Theory Wilby's Reply 2 letters

WILSON, S (or T) (University College, Oxford) From DG: Wilson's paper on -Electronics Industry; Wilson poses some more questions -Technical Change in the Electronics Industry; DG replies 3 letters

WRIGHT,GT (Electrical Engineering Department, The University of Birmingham) DG's visit to Edgbaston to discuss their work on space-charge-limited current in solids 2 letters

WOLF,E (The University of Rochester, New York) Discussing the exchange of papers/reports and the illness of Wolf s wife 2 letters